From the time I did the Latin/English list in 1985, I always wanted a similar Greek/English list. Finally, thanks to the web,
I discovered the work of John Robertson (WORDINFO.INFO). He is exhaustively cataloging all the Latin and Greek words, roots,
prefixes, suffixes--he uses the word “units” to refer to the lot.

I scanned the whole project, picked out the best 250 and then narrowed down to the 131 presented here. My parameters were
two. Most high school students would know the word. And the Greeks actually spoke essentially the same word; conversely, Aristotle,
hearing us speak the word, would know what we said.

But keep in mind that the Greeks used a different alphabet, that we have no recordings of how they spoke, that words shift
even in our own print culture, and that a Greek noun might have many forms and, at best, only one of those would match our
word.

John Robertson said it was almost impossible to confirm an absolute match-up between a word 25 centuries ago and today. All
I can assure you is that this is as close to the ideal list as you’ll find. Scholars are invited to recommend improvements.

I wish so much I’d seen such a list when I was in high school. I hope all teachers will use this list and the Latin
list to inspire students. “Look at how much you already know!” Momentum, in education, is everything.

And when students show enthusiasm, send them to advanced studies at WORDINFO.INFO.

131 Greek - English words. A teaching aid for history and language classes. Most dramatic way to illustrate our link to the
Greek past. Best way to teach ANYTHING is to use the known as a bridge to the unknown.